


Baywatch

by FallingLikeThis, Rearviewdreamer



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Lifeguards, Baywatch AU, Competition, First Aid, Jellyfish Sting, M/M, Near Drowning, Swimming, Tryouts, beach dangers, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25672555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallingLikeThis/pseuds/FallingLikeThis, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rearviewdreamer/pseuds/Rearviewdreamer
Summary: The lifeguards on team Baywatch are looking for some new recruits. When they hold open tryouts, they get more hopefuls than they could have imagined. A lot of the competition looks up to the task, with some willing to do whatever it takes to get on the team, but one man in particular catches Harry's eye right from the start.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 18
Kudos: 130
Collections: Prompt 5.4: Board





	Baywatch

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a Wordplay prompt challenge for the prompt "board". To read the amazing fics that were written by the others on this prompt, [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/board), and to see all fics written as part of the challenge (including years 1-3), [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wordplay_fic_challenge/works). You can also find the masterpost for this year’s challenge [here](https://wordplayfics.tumblr.com/post/622306139518926848/wordplay-2020-every-week-for-five-weeks-a-prompt).

  
The sky always looks extra beautiful this time of day. When it’s right at the start of it all and the sun rises to paint everything in gold. Even the ocean seems to glitter as the waves rush up to shore to cover Harry’s feet beneath the cool sand.

The water is always so beautiful during his morning jogs; so tranquil with an almost calming effect. However, a closer inspection of the waves today and the quick way they’re curling over themselves calls for a more energetic description because tranquil isn’t the word. No; today, the waves are so big they’re almost rough which will definitely add an extra degree of challenge for anybody swimming through them. It certainly will for the group of recruits showing up later to prove themselves worthy of being on the greatest lifeguard team Harry has ever had the pleasure of being a part of; Baywatch.

Twenty minutes of pushing himself down the shore puts Harry in sight of the main beach access where fellow morning joggers as well as early morning swimmers and sunbathers are already trickling in. He waves at them on his way further inland to the little guard house standing next to the access; the guard house with its red wooden deck all faded from years in the sun. The house itself is in a similar state, but that doesn’t stop Harry or the rest of the lifeguards on team Baywatch from huddling inside of it each morning for briefing on the day ahead.

“Morning!” a bright voice says the instant Harry steps inside. It’s such a small space that he doesn’t have to search long to find Leigh-Anne smiling at him from her locker along with everyone else who beat Harry here today.

Harry smiles back, crossing the guard house to take his place next to her in front of his own locker. “Good Morning.”

“So, how’s it looking out there?” she asks narrowly avoiding hitting Harry with her cascade of dark curls when she quickly removes her hoodie. Harry can’t help but grin watching her ball it up and shove it into her locker along with her joggers, shoes, and everything else that isn’t the bright red bathing suit she’s currently wearing.

“Eh. Bit rough at the moment,” Harry says as he grabs his towel to wipe the sweat off his face and chest. “Definitely won’t be easy on the swimmers.”

“Or the recruits,” Niall adds where he’s spraying on sunscreen between Leigh-Anne and Jade. Everybody looks from Niall to the two empty lockers on Harry’s left. One used to belong to Zayn before he moved away almost six months ago, but for the most part they could get by with one less team member. That wasn’t necessarily the case anymore a week ago when Perrie left too, leaving team Baywatch down to four members when they need at least five to keep everyone safe.  _ Six _ is even better. 

“Do you think the waves will scare the new recruits out of trying out?” Jade asks with a wary look out the windows.

Harry sure hopes not. The beach is too big and crowded for just the four of them to monitor properly. Without new members soon, they’ll probably have to close part of the beach until they get some.

“I think the waves are a good thing,” Niall decides, making Harry, Leigh-Anne, and Jade all raise an eyebrow. “Well, think about it…” Niall continues, intuitively tossing his sunscreen in Harry’s direction because Harry always forgets to replace his own once it runs out. “It’s unpredictable out there. No two days are ever the same, so whoever ends up making it onto the team needs to show us they can save lives and handle virtually anything,  _ including _ rough waves.”

In a way, Harry guesses his friend is right. These tryouts are meant to test the people who think they want to join Baywatch and it’s not something that just anybody can do. Being a lifeguard can be dangerous and their new potential team members need to be prepared for that. Whoever those potential team members may be.

*

“Good luck, Lou!” Daisy calls from the backseat of the Jeep as Louis hops out of the passenger seat.

“Aw, thank you, sweets,” Louis smiles, ruffling her hair as he reaches back in to grab his beach bag from her lap. “Hopefully I won’t need it.”

“Break a leg and all,” Lottie says from the driver’s seat, her sunglasses sitting low on the bridge of her nose as she smiles at her brother.

“That’s theater, Lots. If I break a leg here, I definitely won’t make lifeguard,” Louis chuckles.

“You know what I mean,” she waves him off. “Have a good day, big bro.”

“Yeah, have a good day, Louis.  _ Don’t _ break a leg!” Phoebe pipes up like she’s just been waiting her turn to wish her brother good luck.

“Thanks, girls. Have fun at the waterpark!” Louis waves goodbye to them as they drive away, turning to jog up the beach to where they’re holding today’s lifeguard tryouts. The wind has been picking up all day but he knows he’s a good swimmer and in pretty good shape so he’s feeling pretty confident when he spots the sign up table. Until he sees some of the people in line to sign up.

Slowing to a stop at the end of the line, Louis pretends to search his bag when he sees the man in front of him turn to see who’s just arrived.

“Louis,” he greets, his deep voice carrying definite hints of smugness as he turns to face Louis fully, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. “Didn’t think I’d see you here.”

Louis sighs, dropping his act and glancing up at the man. “Hello, Dwayne.”

“Gosh, how long has it been since I beat you out for the last lifeguard position we tried out for together?” Dwayne rubs his chin thoughtfully between his thumb and index finger, eyes staring towards the sky as he pretends to search for the memory.

“It was last year and it was a community pool, Dwayne. Not exactly the job of a lifetime,” Louis rolls his eyes. You play  _ one _ prank and people start plotting your eternal downfall.

“Exactly. If I can beat you out for a community pool job, what chance have you got at  _ Baywatch _ ? This  _ is _ the job of a lifetime,” Dwayne smirks, flexing his huge muscles. “And it’s allll mine.”

“I think you may be putting the cart before the horse, there, mate,” Louis replies, nodding toward the sign-up table  and mini Polaroid station right next to it so the Baywatch team can put faces to names. “Line’s moving.”

“Let’s get this straight, Tomlinson,” Dwayne says, bending down to get in Louis’ face and narrowing his eyes so that Louis can see the determination in them. “I know exactly where my cart is, wiseguy. And I  _ am _ the damn horse.” Without waiting for a reply, he stands, rising to his full height and turns with a huff to move forward with the line.

Louis looks the hulking man up and down. “No arguments here,” he mutters to himself.

“Oh good, we’re not late!” A breathless voice says behind Louis, startling him into turning around.

Another man and a woman are there bent over their knees, trying to catch their breath. “Hi,” the man exhales with a little wave of his hand that immediately returns to his knee.

“Hello,” Louis answers, watching them both warily. He reaches into his bag and pulls out a water bottle, offering it to them. “Water? I only have one but, you’re welcome to it.”

“Oh my god, thank you!” The woman says taking the water from his hands and twisting off the cap to gulp down half of it.

“Careful,” Louis watches with concern. These two are trying to be lifeguards? He has to wonder how far or how fast they ran to get so winded, and whether or not they’ll be able to handle the tasks they’ll be performing for tryouts.

“Thanks,” the man says to the woman as the bottle is passed to him.

“Sorry to be so rude. I’m Jesy and this is Liam,” the woman tells Louis as she continues trying to catch her breath. “ _ Someone _ got distracted playing ultimate frisbee and forgot to set an alarm to leave for tryouts.”

Liam simply shrugs as he drinks water much slower than Jesy had.

Louis introduces himself too, watching as Liam takes what’s left of his perfectly good water and empties it over his own head. It cascades down Liam’s admittedly well fit body and Louis is a little miffed about it being wasted like that.  Even if he doesn’t mind the show. 

“Thanks,” Liam tells him with a smile. “You’re a real lifesaver.” He hardly leaves time for Louis to process the statement before he’s grinning and nudging Louis. “Get it?” Liam laughs at his own joke as Louis smiles politely and Jesy groans in disgust.

Well, this should be fun. At least Jesy seems alright. 

*

Locking up the beach access gate is proving more difficult today than usual with the wind so strong. The wind is also the reason the ocean still looks so angry, but there’s not much to be done about it. Once the door is secured Harry hangs the ‘ _ Restricted Access’  _ sign to it to let beach-goers know to come back later. They’ll be restricted from swimming for a few hours, but due to this sacrifice and tryouts, team Baywatch will gain two new members, meaning after today the beach will be even safer.

Harry glances over his shoulder at the guard house where nearly two dozen hopefuls are all standing around in the sand next to the sign-up table. So many more recruits showed up this morning than Harry or any of the current members of Baywatch ever expected. They only posted the two job openings a few days ago and it seems half the city has decided to turn up, but that’s a good thing. The more recruits, the better chances they have of finding the people best fit for their team. It’s a win-win.

Back at the guard house, Harry catches sight of Jade and Niall jogging over from their own access gates which are now presumably closed-up too.

“Looks like Leigh-Anne’s got everyone about ready to go,” Jade splutters as the wind knocks her long wavy hair into her and Niall’s faces as they step onto the deck.

Niall rolls his eyes, playfully elbowing Jade and her beachy waves out of his way to scan the crowd. There are far too many people scattered around chatting to tell who’s who, so Niall grabs the sign-up sheet  and heads to their makeshift polaroid wall against the guardhouse  to scan that instead. “Impressive.  _ Years  _ of lifeguard experience for some of them.”

Harry mentally notes that there are also some recruits with no lifeguard experience at all which isn’t necessarily a deal breaker in joining Baywatch, but being so new will definitely make things harder for them today. Especially in this wind. 

“Look who’s trying out,” Jade gasps, pointing to  a photo that Harry would never have expected to see.

“Dwayne’s here?” Harry asks redundantly, now looking out at the crowd wondering how the hell he missed someone that huge and muscled.

“Didn’t he get kicked off team Reefwatch two years ago for something?” Jade asks with a furrowed brow.

“For intimidating others,” Niall answers with similar disapproval. “ _ And _ I think he was put on probation by team Gulfwatch for a save he handled carelessly.”

Both are pretty serious accusations. Even worse if they’re actually true.

“Well… he is a decent lifeguard. He’s got a lot of saves under his belt,” Harry says making his teammates stare at him like he’s grown another head. “Hey, I’m just saying people can change,” he shrugs. “And, they deserve second chances.”

“Or  _ third  _ chances, in some cases,” Niall mutters before letting out a yielding sigh. “But, you’re right, H. We shouldn’t listen to gossip and everyone here deserves a fair chance.”

They do, Harry thinks as he looks out over the crowd, noticing a few people who have tried out in the past, and also some that haven’t. Though, one new face in particular catches Harry’s attention mostly because of the sunny smile on his face while talking to the two recruits standing next to him. A smile that turns a little nervous when Leigh-Anne’s bright voice rings out through the giant megaphone in her hand to announce the start of tryouts.

“It’s finally time!” Jade beams next to Harry, following his gaze that keeps drifting to the same spot in the crowd. “Who’s he? A friend of yours?”

Harry quickly blinks away from the man he’s apparently just openly gawking at now.

“Oh, uh- no. I don’t know him.”

“Hm. Really? Because now he’s staring at  _ you _ .”

Curiosity gets the best of Harry who nods along to what Leigh-Anne is saying about the tryout schedule while also checking to see if Jade is right. She is. Right away, Harry and the man lock eyes, but Harry’s certain he’s never seen him before. He’d fucking remember. 

“Told you,” Jade smirks, making Harry do the same.

“Shut up.”

“He’s cute.”

He  _ is _ cute is the thing.  _ Very _ .

“We are looking for guards based on talent, skill, and bravery, not cuteness.”

“So you admit it,” Jade teases. “You think he’s cute.”

Harry refuses to dignify that with an answer. But he can’t seem to keep his eyes from drifting in that direction so, really, who’s he fooling?

*

Louis should concentrate on the directions being given to him but it’s difficult to take his eyes off of the hot lifeguard standing off to the side that keeps looking at him. He glances between the hot guy and the lifeguard with the megaphone, trying to catch everything she says. He knows it’s all important to his future but his eyes don’t seem to care.

“Everyone got that?”

Louis’ attention snaps back to the instructing lifeguard. Maybe he managed to catch everything he’s supposed to do. They’re doing a Run-Swim-Run, right? He thinks that’s what they were told. He’s done this before. He’ll be fine. He  _ hopes. _

Everyone trying out is instructed to line up, side by side, with their backs to the ocean. Louis digs his toes into the sand, preparing himself for the first run.

“Good luck, mate,” Liam says with a smile, nudging Louis’ shoulder.

“Good luck to you two as well,” Louis smiles at Liam and Jesy. They’re an alright sort and he wants to root for both of them but he knows there are only two slots available. And one of those slots has the name Louis Tomlinson on it. He faces forward, eyes narrowed in determination.

A whistle blows and they’re all off running.

Louis holds back a little as he runs up the beach and around the end of a line of flags that have been set up. He knows that swimming will be difficult with the way the wind has been picking up all day so he wants to save his energy to push through the water. Other people, like Dwayne, are sprinting with all they have and Louis hopes he isn’t making a mistake by taking it easy now. If he were actually saving someone’s life, he’d be sprinting. Maybe he’s made the wrong choice. Maybe the other lifeguards will think he doesn’t care because he’s not running like someone’s life depends on it.

_ Too late now _ , Louis thinks as his feet finally hit the water. He wades in quickly and drops to a swim the moment the water is deep enough to carry him. The ocean feels like a second home, even if it is a bit turbulent at the moment, and Louis finds himself passing several people on his way to the buoy they’re supposed to circle before swimming back to the beach. He can see Dwayne up ahead just as he disappears around the back of the buoy and Louis pushes harder, trying to catch up to him.

“Wait, please!” Louis thinks he hears as he nears the right side of the buoy. The churning of the water is louder out here and it muffles the sound somewhat but then he hears it again. “Please! Help!”

Pushing as hard as he can, Louis rounds the buoy and finds someone thrashing on the other side.

“I’m here,” Louis says loudly, hoping they’ll hear him over the current but they sink under the water almost immediately. Louis takes a deep breath and dives under, catching them under the arms and pulling them back up. They sputter and cough once they break the surface and Louis takes a deep breath. He knows the swim back to the beach won’t be easy.

“Hey, you okay?” Louis asks breathlessly as he carefully starts to swim back to shore. In the distance, he can see Dwayne running up the beach and toward the last flag they’re supposed to pass to end the relay.

“Yeah,” the man he’s holding up croaks, coughing a bit more. “Thank you. I got tired. I couldn’t go any farther.”

“No problem, mate,” Louis says, swimming forward as his competition passes him on all sides. There are two actual paid lifeguards swimming towards them, their orange lifeguard canisters giving them away. “It’s what we’re here for, right?”

“Hey, is he alright?” One of the lifeguards, a woman in a red swimsuit with the Baywatch emblem on it, asks when she gets close.

“Seems to be,” Louis answers, turning to the man in question. “Aren’t ya, mate?”

“Yeah, I… just couldn’t go any further. I’m- I’m okay,” he says, taking hold of the canister when the woman tells him to.

Louis is left with his arms empty as the other lifeguard turns to him.

“What about you? Are you okay?”

He feels a little breathless again as his gaze meets green eyes filled with concern for him. It’s the man he’d had trouble looking away from earlier. Now, dripping wet and staring back at him, Louis is having the same issues as before.

“Yeah,” he forces himself to say as he tears his eyes away. “Yes. I’m fine.”

“Better finish then, yeah?” The man says, giving Louis a wink when he dares to look up again.

“Yeah.” Louis breathes, feeling slightly lightheaded and energized at the same time. The other lifeguard and her charge are already back on the beach and Louis follows Green Eyes as he swims to meet them on the shore.

Once Louis’ far enough along to stand, he starts jogging through the water, eyes on the man he’d saved. He’s sitting up and he waves gratefully at Louis as he passes so Louis smiles back and picks up his speed, running up the beach to the lifeguard holding a stopwatch and a clipboard. His time is fucked but he’s not the last person to finish either. He’s close, but not last. And when Louis catches the green-eyed lifeguard watching again with a smile just for him, he can’t really be bothered to worry about it. 

*

“Some of them are doing really well so far. Competition’s getting stiff,” Harry overhears Leigh-Anne comment when he finds her, Niall, and Jade, standing out of ear shot on the deck of the guardhouse  huddled around the polaroid wall of recruits.

“Yeah, but some of them aren’t,” Niall sighs. “There’s a few whose swim/run times weren’t fast enough to qualify them for the next round of training.”

The three lifeguards start moving down the rows  identifying the slowest recruits to be sent home. Harry squeezes himself into the huddle knowing that list probably includes Louis who didn’t qualify based on time but most certainly proved himself by saving a life. That has to count for something.

“Dev was the slowest followed by Carey, and Isabel...” Jade comments,  snatching down each photo as she goes, prompting Harry to speak up.

“Er- So, I know we have qualifying rules for a reason, but what about special circumstances like Louis for example?” Harry interjects before Louis’ name can be lumped in with the other recruits who couldn’t finish in time. “We know he was on track to qualify with the majority of the group. The only thing that slowed him down was him stopping to make a save. I don’t think it’s fair to send him home for doing something that the four of us would have without a second thought.”

None of his friends look up from the  wall they’re still zeroed in on, but apparently, they do hear him.

“Yeah, we know. Louis’ save was amazing,” Leigh-Anne shrugs. “He’s practically a superstar.”

“What are you on about? He’s officially hero of the day. That guy couldn’t stop thanking him,” Niall adds.

“Yeah, so you can stop all your worrying, H,” Jade smirks as she removes the photos of the last few people chosen to go home. Thankfully, none of them include  the photo of  Louis Tomlinson. “Your boy is safe for now.”

Niall and Leigh-Anne are now facing Harry as well, grinning at the color in Harry’s cheeks that has nothing to do with exposure to the sun.

“Your boy, huh?” Leigh-Anne repeats wearing a smirk just as wide as Jade’s when they all turn to notice a certain recruit quickly averting his gaze from them. Or  _ one _ of them at least.

“That’s quite the interesting development,” Niall says under his breath just as Harry snatches the megaphone out of his hand to change the fucking subject.

“Hello everyone!” Harry greets the recruits over the sound of his friends snickering. “Tryouts will be continuing shortly after a brief meeting with a few recruits. Great job with the timed endurance test. You’ve been split into three because you’ll be rotating the next tests which will be a weighted save demonstration, CPR, and First Aid,” he announces, quickly exiting stage right before his best friends can be any more annoying.

As promised, tryouts resume a few minutes later, though Harry’s not sure his friends’ maturity levels have increased much as they break up the recruits and assign different training tests for each of them to supervise.

“Why am I stuck with first aid scenarios?” Harry asks, annoyed that he’s being pinned with the boring test while Jade and Leigh-Anne get CPR with the dummies and Niall oversees all the weighted saves in the water. “I want to trade with someone else. I could help out with weighted saves,” he tries only to be vetoed.

“But you love First Aid scenarios! And you’re such a great actor!” Leigh-Anne claims as she hands Harry the copies of common beach injuries scripts to distribute to his recruits. 

“But, I-”

“Yeah, H, break a leg!” Jade says adding the box of first aid kits to Harry’s arms. “Just make sure they can handle a standard ankle sprain and apply a bandage and you’re set!”

“Yeah, but-”

“You’ll be fine. Also, we’re doing you a favor, mate, so you’re welcome,” Niall beams, the three of them jogging away before Harry can protest.

“ _ Some favor _ ,” Harry mutters at all the things in his arms that he has somehow earned responsibility of. However, he glances to the left at his portion of the recruits and finds a familiar friendly face amongst them that makes Harry’s assignment suck a lot less.

Even after breaking up the remaining recruits the groups are still slightly uneven. First Aid is supposed to be a partnered activity, however since Harry only has seven recruits that means there’s either going to be a group of three or someone needs to even it up by joining in. That someone ends up being Harry of course. And sure, as he watches his recruits pair up as instructed he has his own preferred partner in mind. He just didn’t think the stars would actually align to make it happen.

All of a sudden, Harry’s skin feels warmer than ever but he’s pretty sure it has nothing to do with the sun shining on his bare shoulders and everything to do with Louis and walking right towards him.

“Uh, hi there,” he greets Harry with a nervous smile and tan so deep he’s almost golden.

Louis’ so gorgeous that he nearly forgets he’s supposed to say something back. “Hey,” he responds a few beats late, now mesmerized by the ocean blue of Louis’ eyes.

Harry is definitely staring at this near-stranger right now and he tries his best not to, but he can’t seem to look away. The feeling seems to be mutual as Louis stares back at him... and the last first aid kit and list of common injuries Harry’s holding in his hands.

“So... I didn’t exactly get a partner to practice patching up. There’s only seven people...” Louis explains, quickly bringing Harry back down to Earth where he belongs.

“R-Right. Of course,” Harry nods, his stomach going all fluttery when a sun-kissed hand is extended towards him.

“Um, I’m Louis by the way.”

“I know,” Harry blurts.  “Fr-From the polaroids I mean.”  The speed of his response makes Louis blink in surprise and then breathe a little laugh.

“Right. Of course,” he says, looking rather flattered nonetheless as they release each other’s hands. “Well, I just know there’s a lot of people here today. Lots of new faces, so...” Harry’s certain if there were a billion people on this beach today he’d still notice Louis. He stood out the moment he got here and that was before he was dubbed a life-saving hero. “Um, and you’re Harry, right?”

He was so focused on Louis that he forgot to introduce himself. Though, it seems that formality isn’t even necessary since Harry isn’t the only one here memorizing strangers’ names.

“Yeah. I’m Harry,” he confirms. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, partner. Or should I say, ‘Actor 1 with small cut on right ankle and large cut on bottom right foot’,” he reads from the scenario script Harry’s still hoarding all to himself.

“Oh yeah. You might need these,” Harry snorts as he hands Louis the paper and the First Aid kit so they can get started like everyone else already has. “Sorry about that.”

“No worries,” Louis assures him as he accepts his materials, smirking when he glances over their script. “And just an fyi, but I believe your first line is, ‘ _ HELP! HELP! I’VE BEEN INJURED!!!’ ... _ Or something like that. I wouldn’t want to influence your interpretation or anything.”

Beach emergencies are very serious matters that are never funny, and yet Harry’s laughing at Louis’ highly dramatic portrayal of peril due to a sharp seashell. And here Harry was thinking he got the boring assignment.

*

Louis tries not to let his hands linger on Harry’s skin as he applies an ace bandage to Harry’s fake sprained ankle. “How does that feel? Not too tight?”

Harry flexes his foot, something he probably wouldn’t be doing if he had an actual sprained ankle.”Feels good,” he assures Louis.

“Just so you know,” Louis smirks, packing away the rest of the first aid stuff. He’d already bandaged a fake wound and the ankle sprain is supposed to be the last test before they switch stations. “You’re not acting very hurt. If you’re not careful, someone might think you’re faking the injury to get closer to the lifeguard.”

Harry’s eyebrows raise and he seems a little shocked at Louis’ forwardness. For a moment, Louis fears he’s crossed a line he shouldn’t have crossed, but slowly, Harry’s own smirk grows. “Points off for flirting with the victim.”

“I’d never flirt with an actual victim. Out  of  curiosity though, what about flirting with the other lifeguards?” Louis tests, handing Harry the packed first aid kit. “Do I get points off for that?”

Harry stares thoughtfully, something challenging in his eyes. “I suppose it depends on how many of them you plan on flirting with.”

“Just one,” Louis promises, accepting the unspoken challenge. 

Harry bites down on a smile and Louis wants to reach out and tug his plump lower lip free. “I guess you have to make lifeguard if you want to find that out.”

“Alright,” Louis agrees confidently. 

Harry chuckles lightly, moving to stand and Louis follows him up. “I have to--” Harry gestures to the people around them, “you know, check on the others.”

“Okay,” Louis nods, smiling. 

He doesn’t miss the way Harry smiles and looks away, looking back again before he can stop himself. He shakes his head at himself, laughing as he walks away, stopping to watch the others work and inspect the wrappings on the ones that have finished. 

Louis sighs happily, loving the light feeling of possibility that’s growing like a bubble in his chest. Making the Baywatch team is really important to him, and getting to be around Harry all the time is just one more reason to fight his hardest for it. 

“Booyah!” A voice yells over where they’re doing weighted saves and Louis looks over to see Dwayne slam his “save” into the sand in celebration of completing the test.

Louis scoffs at the lack of decorum and turns away before he can be subjected to Dwayne’s victory dance. Honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if the man actually slammed people onto the beach after saving them. Probably nothing Dwayne does would be a surprise to him at this point.

*

Louis was wrong. 

He’s been at the CPR station for about ten minutes and, having already done his own demonstration of his knowledge, he’d looked over to check on Harry and his new group of First Aid testers only to notice Dwayne practically throwing himself at Harry. 

Louis squints at the sight, confused and a little disturbed. As far as he knows, Dwayne has some big-name model girlfriend. At least, he likes to tell as many people as possible about her, even thrusting her picture in their face if they don’t know her by name. What is he doing hanging all over Harry? And where did his original partner go? Louis knows his  own group  was the only uneven  one but Dwayne’s group seems to be missing a person too. 

Harry does not look entirely comfortable with Dwayne’s aggressive flirting and that more than anything else makes Louis walk over to Jade. Leigh-Anne is watching closely over the rest of the CPR testing while Jade makes observations on a clipboard off to the side, so she’s the one Louis approaches. 

“Excuse me,” he says to get her attention. “It looks like the first aid group is short a person again,” he tells her, pointing at Dwayne and Harry and hoping she sees what he sees. “Since I already took my test, I wondered if maybe I could go stand in as a victim to help out?”

Jade curses under her breath. Louis doesn’t catch it all but he does think he hears Dwayne’s name in there. “Yeah, maybe you’d better. It’ll give Harry a better opportunity to watch everyone perform. Thanks. Just rotate to the weighted saves after.”

“Of course,” Louis nods, glad she does seem to have noticed the same thing he had. “Thank you.”

He walks over, catching the attention of both Harry and Dwayne. 

“Louis! What a relie--, um, I mean, what a pleasant surprise,” Harry stumbles, ‘SAVE ME’ written in his eyes. 

“Yeah, I already did my CPR test and noticed it seems like you’re short a person again so I came to help out,” Louis winks subtly at him. 

“That’s perfect. We had someone drop out of the competition out of nowhere and I really do need to watch everyone,” Harry says, standing quickly. “Thank you, Louis.”

“No problem,” He looks at Dwayne still sitting there glaring up at him. Louis plops down in the sand in front of him “Howdy, partner. Or should I say, ‘ _ help, help. I’ve been injured!’ _ ”

“ _ I’ll  _ injure you,” Dwayne fumes, grabbing Louis’ ankle and pulling it to him roughly. “Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing.”

“And what am I doing, Dwayne?” Louis asks, wryly. “Besides helping fill a spot in a partner project.”

“I saw you flirting with the lifeguard to get ahead and now you’re keeping me from leveling the playing field,” Dwayne insists, wrapping Louis’ ankle far too tightly. 

“Oh my god,” Louis groans. “You’re such a douche. Do you even  _ like _ Harry like that?”

“I’m not into men,” Dwayne snorts, “but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead in my career.”

“Wait, you shouldn’t have even been paired with…,” Louis’ mind is not working as quickly as it should but that’s because the mere idea that’s suddenly hit him would never enter his mind normally. This is Dwayne though. “You intimidated your partner into dropping out of the competition, didn’t you?”

Dwayne glances up at Louis without answering before returning his gaze to his too tight handiwork. 

“Not so tight!” Louis hisses when it becomes a little too unbearable.

“You shouldn’t have interfered.”

“Look, Dwayne, I’m going to tell you this because I think maybe no one ever has before. You’re a good lifeguard. Really good, okay? Good enough that you don’t need to make everything a competition and push other people in the dirt to prove it. You have the skills, you just need the right attitude. Acting like a jackass every time you do something well and pushing people around, that’s what’s going to hold you back,” Louis tells him earnestly, patting him on the shoulder. He half expects his hand to be knocked away but Dwayne seems to ignore it. He’s not sure if his words have gotten through, but Dwayne does loosen the bandage, so there’s that at least. 

*

Harry can hardly believe his ears or his luck when he and the rest of the team regroup about the plan for the rest of tryouts and it is suggested that Harry leave his post at first-aid scenarios to take over for Niall at weighted saves. Apparently, Niall needs to update the polaroid board with the latest trainees who either dropped out of the competition, or fallen so far behind with their score that there’s no way they can catch up with the front-runners. 

That’s bad news for the five trainees they’re about to let go, but good news for Harry who only enjoyed first-aid scenarios because of Louis, his amazing jokes, and his even more amazing laugh. Now, Harry gets to watch him complete his final task of the day. He’ll take it. 

With Leigh-Anne’s help, he pushes one of the two red dingy boats into the water, careful not to get his clipboard or megaphone wet as he paddles over to the weighted buoys floating past the shallow water.

“Remember, H, you’re observing _ all  _ the remaining trainees, not just the exceptionally cute ones!” she teases through the megaphone. Thankfully, Louis is too far away to hear her and everyone else too busy to notice Leigh-Anne cackling like a mad woman and Harry paddling as hard and fast as he can to get away from her.

He doesn’t have to go too far; just to where the people-sized buoys are waiting to be rescued by the trainees who have yet to complete this task. The four of them are standing on the beach with Leigh-Anne, directly across from Harry. Any of them could become Harry’s new teammates so he is supposed to be rooting for them all equally. Still, he can’t help rooting for one of them a bit more than the others. And, yes, it’s one-hundred percent because he’s exceptionally cute.

Once Harry is safely in place behind the save area, he stands and grabs his megaphone from the bottom of the boat to address his trainees. 

“Hello again, everyone! As you all know, this is the final stage of your tryout. Remember to show us your very best effort, and to remember safety first. We want you all safe as you do this activity,” Harry says, and he means it for all of them. Not just Louis. “Your task will be to swim out to your assigned buoy, collect it, and then safely bring it back to the beach. These buoys are heavy and this activity will be timed, so please pace yourselves. And, remember you are allowed to stop the activity at any time so I’ll be here with the boat on standby and Leigh-Anne will be on the beach.”

Hopefully, everything will run smoothly and Harry won’t need to pull anyone into the small boat, but it’s good to be prepared either way. 

“Alright, everyone, good luck! Your time starts in five, four, three, two, one!” Harry says through the megaphone, vigilantly watching all four trainees enter the water, but keeping a close eye on the exceptionally cute one who’s currently in the lead. 

*

Louis has had to swim for another portion of his tryout today, so he feels less nervous about messing up as he runs into the tide at full speed with his red rescue float in tow. He hasn’t looked at the others he is currently sharing the water with, too focused on keeping up his own time to be concerned with how they’re performing. But, Louis doesn’t see anyone in his direct periphery and any noise from the other swimmers is coming from a few paces behind him, which can only mean one thing; he’s in the lead.

All day, Louis has been working hard to prove that he deserves a spot on team Baywatch and now that he’s nearing the end of tryouts, his body is losing steam. His rescue tube keeps getting caught in the waves, and the water feels harder to push through because he’s getting tired, but he can’t stop now. Not now that he’s so close to the finish line. All he has to do is swim as fast as he can to where Harry is (pretty simple), grab his buoy (challenging), and then make it back to shore (also challenging, but not impossible). Louis knows he isn’t the only one with that plan. Somewhere in this water are three other people competing against him. One of them being Dwayne who soon catches up to Louis and makes a point of letting him know it inbetween giant breast strokes with his giant arms. 

“You should just give up now, Tomlinson! I’m faster than you!”

Louis ignores him the best he can, choosing to preserve his energy and breaths for later when he’ll need them. Dwayne probably is faster, but he’s also cockier and there’s no time for that when there are lives at stake. True, today the only thing at stake is an inanimate object that doesn’t care if it’s rescuer is full of himself, but one day it won’t be.  So much for Louis’ little pep talk he tried giving Dwayne earlier. 

They’re getting closer and closer to the buoys and Louis can feel himself already going into save mode as he zeros in on his. As is expected, Dwayne gets to his buoy first, but Louis arrives at his own just after him. The buoy is round and slippery and not very human-like so it takes Louis a second to get a secure grip around it and his rescue float. He manages to do it though, earning a neutral-sounding ‘great job!’ from Harry watching nearby, though Louis can hear the fondness in his voice. Harry has said those words to many people trying out today, but never with that big of a smile. It energizes Louis to know Harry is rooting for everyone, but he’s rooting for Louis a little extra. Having Harry’s support boosts his energy so much that Louis is now in the lead again, already starting back towards the beach when a soft, pained cry makes him stop dead in the water.

Louis only got about a yard away from where his buoy was, so he’s still close enough to investigate the situation. To his far left is Harry and his boat, to his right are his competitors dutifully securing their buoys, however one of them looks to be in distress. It’s Dwayne, wincing like he is hurt and relying on his rescue float to keep himself above water. Dwayne is a strong swimmer. Arguably, the strongest swimmer here, so something is definitely wrong. 

Louis leaves his buoy right where it is, to go investigate further and he’s so glad that he did when he arrives at Dwayne’s side and sees that he really is hurt. 

“What happened?” Louis asks.

“Nothing,” he lies through a groan. 

“Doesn’t look like nothing. 

Dwayne’s expression is petulant and also a bit embarrassed as he lets out a frustrated huff. “...I- I think I got stung. Probably by a jellyfish.”

Jellyfish stings are no joke, but they especially hurt when they happen on the torso where Dwayne is currently trying to apply pressure. 

“Here, let me-” Louis begins as he tries to get a secure hold on Dwayne to help him to the boat, but Dwayne pushes him away.

“Get out of here, Tomlinson! I’m fine. I don’t need your charity.”

Louis rolls his eyes at Dwayne’s stubbornness. “You’re not fine. You’re injured in the middle of the ocean, and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Now, shut up, and let me help you before you drown.’

He isn’t met with resistance when he tries to help Dwayne again, successfully helping him away from the save area to the boat where Harry is waiting to receive them. 

“What happened?” Harry asks as he bends down to help Louis get Dwayne into the boat. 

“Possible jellyfish sting to the left side,” Louis reports only for Dwayne to let out a long disappointed sigh. “It slowed him down a bit, but he was killing it before,” Louis says to boost his morale because it could’ve been any of them that got stung. It has to suck to be so close to getting something and then have it not happen. Of course, none of that takes away from all the hard work Dwayne put in today. 

Once Dwayne is in the rescue boat, Louis decides to climb in too. The other two competitors completed their saves and are already back on the beach, so it’s not like Louis could make up his time lost. Also, he doesn’t really want to make it up because what he did is more important than winning a competition or getting on some team. He got to save someone today, and that’s the whole point of being a lifeguard. Also, he got to meet some pretty amazing people on this beach. One of which is smiling proudly at Louis.

Louis happily takes Harry’s hand when offered, his stomach all fluttery from their strong grip.

“Alright, on the count of three,” Harry says, however when they get to three, and Harry tries pulling Louis out of the water, the opposite happens and he ends up falling overboard straight into the ocean. 

“I think the point of a rescue boat is for the rescuer to stay inside of it,” Louis teases, his breath catching when Harry swims close enough to him to lace their fingers beneath the water. 

“I like it much better here,” he grins. It looks like the only thing that stops him from leaning in to kiss Louis is the sound of Leigh-Anne’s voice over the megaphone telling them to get their arses back to the beach so they can wrap up the day and announce the new members of team Baywatch.

*

The rest of his team is already at the polaroid wall when Harry joins them, drying his hair with a towel from the guard house.They’re mulling over the remaining candidates but as Harry studies the wall, he notices that Louis’ polaroid is missing. 

“Wait, where is Louis’ photo? You guys didn’t cut him, did you?”

Niall sort of winces, scratching the back of his head as the others fall silent, staring at Harry with varying levels of discomfort.

“What the fuck? He’s the best recruit we have this year!” Harry hisses, knowing better than to yell with all the remaining hopefuls nearby to overhear. 

“Mate, he hasn’t finished a single timed trial,” Niall says with a frown. 

“Oh my god,” Harry mutters, glaring at Niall. “If you’re worried about his times, I’ll run drills with him once he’s on the team.”

“ _ I’m sure you will _ ,” Niall jokes, giving Harry a leering wink. 

“Seriously, Niall. He was saving people!” He almost forgets not to yell this time. “Real, actual lives, not test saves.”

Everyone stares at him like he’s gone a little mad and maybe he has but Louis of all people  _ deserves _ a slot on the team and Harry is determined to see him get it. After another brief moment of silence Jade loses it, breaking down into a fit of giggles. 

“Sorry, guys. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Harry, I didn’t know that vein on your neck could throb like that,” she laughs, all the others joining in.

Harry blinks in confusion. 

“Relax, Haz,” Niall says, putting a hand on his shoulder. “There’s no way we’d cut your man. Two saves in the span of a few hours is ridiculously awesome.”

“Three, if you count him saving you from Dwayne at the First Aid station,” Jade adds, making a face. “He looked like he was going to eat you.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what that was about,” Harry shudders, remembering how ... _ hands on _ Dwayne was once his First Aid partner suddenly decided to drop out of the competition. 

“For real? You have no idea what that was about?” Leigh-Anne arches an eyebrow at him. “ _ Clearly _ you have a favorite, H. And Dwayne wanted that number one spot.”

“I do  _ not _ have a favori--” Harry cuts off his protest at the looks his friends are giving him, instead giving in to what they already know. “Ok, I have a favorite. But it’s not just because he’s attractive, he actually cares about people more than the competition and that’s why he deserves to make the team.”

“Agreed. Louis’ in,” Niall states and the girls nod, agreeing too as they all turn back to the board. “Now, we just have to decide on one more person.”

*

Louis waits nervously with the other remaining recruits as the Baywatch team deliberates over who they want to join their ranks. He notices that Liam and Jesy are still among the group and moves over to join the two of them. 

“Hey, man,” Liam smiles when he notices Louis. “Nice save earlier.”

“Which one?” Jesy smirks, eyeing Louis with an air of approval. “I heard you had two saves today.”

“Nah,” Louis plays it off, feeling slightly embarrassed by the praise. “Dwayne could have taken care of himself. I just helped a bit.”

“Damn right, I could have,” Dwayne agrees, walking over to join the rest of the group after having his jellyfish sting rinsed in vinegar and bandaged. His chest is puffed out and Louis is prepared to roll his eyes at the man, but then Dwayne suddenly holds out a fist to him. “But thanks for the assist, I guess.”

Dwayne’s face looks sincere so Louis slowly fist bumps him. “Anytime, mate.”

“I’m still taking the position,” Dwanye adds as soon as Louis’ hand drops. “Nobody could beat my times.”

“You know there are two positions, right?” Louis checks.

Dwayne frowns thoughtfully for a moment. “I guess I wouldn’t be opposed to you getting the other one. If you can keep up.”

“And what are we, chopped liver?” Jesy complains, shaking her head at Dwayne and nudging the small blonde next to her. “Get a load of this dickhead.”

“I’d rather not,” the blonde says, looking him over with distaste. “You on the other hand,” she grins at Jesy, giving her a wink. 

“Oh my,” Jesy mutters to herself holding a hand over her heart and fanning herself with the other. “Yes, please.”

Before either woman can introduce herself, the megaphone squelches to life, ready to give two people the good news. 

*

Harry didn’t think he’d be so nervous listening for the names of his new team members over the megaphone. Especially since he already knows one of the people joining team Baywatch today.

“Hello, everyone!” Niall addresses the crowd that has shrunk by more than half since this morning. “Before we announce our recruit picks for today, we would like to thank each of you for your time, dedication, and passion for team Baywatch. Every one of you would make great team members and we wish we could work with you all, but unfortunately we did have to make a few tough decisions…”

Harry tries not to look directly at Louis and give away the surprise, but it’s hard not to stare. The fact that Louis is staring right back makes it even harder. He looks so anxious standing amongst everyone and hoping for his name to be called. Little does he know, he has nothing to worry about. His spot on the team was secured pretty much the moment he set foot on the beach.

“I am happy to announce that the first recruit joining team Baywatch today is…” Niall pauses for dramatic flair. “Louis!”

Louis’ face is bright and sunny and beautiful as ever as he’s pushed to the front of the crowd and onto the deck of the guard house. Once there, he receives his very own red whistle and congratulations from his new teammates in the form of high fives. When he makes his way to Harry standing at the end of the deck, he extends his hand for yet another highfive. What Harry really wants to do is finish what they started in the water earlier, but for the sake of professionalism, Harry refrains from doing so, locking Louis into a tight embrace instead.

“Congrats,” Harry whispers, his stomach practically bursting with butterflies when Louis forgoes professionalism altogether and pulls him into a celebratory kiss. 

The beach erupts in whistles and shouts for them to get a room, but Harry doesn’t care. When they do finally separate, Harry can tell that his cheeks are pink from the attention, sunshine, and adrenaline, but also the way Louis is smiling at him like he just won the lottery by earning a spot on this team. 

“Alright, now that those two are finished being  _ disgusting,”  _ Niall smirks, “I’m going to hand it over to Leigh-Anne to announce our other new team members.”

“ _ Members _ ? As in more than one?” Louis whispers at Harry’s side. 

“Hello people! And, no, you don’t have sand in your ears!” Leigh-Anne announces. “Originally we were looking to add just two members to team Baywatch this season, however, we all realized pretty quickly that some of you showed so much promise and had times so close together that we simply couldn’t choose.”

The beach is so silent that all Harry can hear is the waves before Jade takes over the megaphone and ends everyone’s anxiety. 

“Everyone, please welcome Liam, Jesy, and last but not least… Dwayne to team Baywatch!”

“I… definitely did not see that coming, but that’s amazing! The more the merrier!” Louis chuckles as all three of them get pushed to the front of the crowd to receive their new whistles. They go down the line, receiving their congratulations and high fives.

Harry manages not to kiss any of these new team members, but he does wrap each of them in a tight hug too. Including Dwayne who looks shocked to even be up on the guard house deck. He looks almost in awe as he is welcomed wholeheartedly by everyone there.

“Wow. I- I figured with all the rumors and with the sting and my time getting messed up, you all wouldn’t want-” 

“Someone who pushes themselves as hard as you do, saving lives and watching our backs?” Harry finishes for him. “We’d be crazy not to, Dwayne.” 

Sure, Dwayne isn’t perfect, but neither is anyone else. He isn’t always the best team player, but they can work on that. Who knows, in a few weeks, he may even be the best team player they have.

“Well, Tommo. So much for the best man winning this thing,” Harry overhears Dwayne joke after he proudly slides into place on Louis’ other side. 

Louis just smiles in answer and laces his fingers with Harry’s. That sure feels like a win to him.

  
  
  


The End

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed it! Here is a [fic post](https://fallinglikethis.tumblr.com/post/625444612045193216/baywatch-words8774-by) if you'd like to share it.


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